End of the Line
by marval3
Summary: Nathan was killed by Rafe. Set during Uncharted 4.


Sam watched as his brother's body plummeted from the cliff, his head colliding with a ledge on his decent, falling into the river below. The surrounding water turned a murky scarlet, the blood pooling into the water made it all the more harder to tell where exactly he'd been shot.

Horror overtook him and Sam raced to the cliff's edge, aiming to jump down, when he was restrained by Shoreline thugs. He thrashed in their hold, but they were stronger and he stilled realizing he was going nowhere. That is until Rafe waltzed into his field of vision.

The man bore a smirk, he spun his gun once around on his finger before catching it with a sharp motion.

"You bastard." Sam spat out, jerking forward. "I'll kill you."

Rafe laughed. "If anything I'll kill you once this is all over. But now, let's move out!" He held the gun up, angling it away from the river.

The two men strengthened their hold on him, turning him and dragging him towards a path surrounded by towering rock walls. It was then Sam noticed Rafe wasn't with them. He flipped his head around, catching a glimpse of the man lingering by the cliff's edge.

"Rafe!" He bellowed. "What are you doing?!"

Rafe spared a glance in Sam's direction before he moved his eyes back to observing the motionless body of Nathan as it slowly washed downstream. He was reluctant to leave without confirming the man was dead, as the Drake brothers have an annoying tendency to come back from impossible situations. Right now, he couldn't risk it.

Rafe raised his weapon, aimed for Nathan's head, and fired.

The gunshot hit Sam like a fist to the gut. He was already some way down the path, unable to see what Rafe had done. Nadine paused, eyeing behind her.

"Should we wait, ma'am?" One of the Shoreliners asked.

Nadine shook her head. "No. He should be right behind us. He'll catch up."

A Shoreliner roughly shoved Sam forward, and they trudged onward. Minutes later Rafe came jogging into view. The group paused, Nadine strolled up to meet him her hands placed firmly on her hips.

Her lips were pressed into a line. "What took you so long?"

Rafe took his time answering, looking back and forth between the awaiting Nadine and bristling Sam. Finally, "I just got behind alright?"

"And that gunshot?"

He rolled his eyes. "I made sure our mutual problem didn't come back."

Sam's breath caught in his throat. Impassively, he addressed Rafe. "Bullshit."

Rafe chuckled, spinning around to see Sam. "Look I'll tell you how it is. I, put a bullet in baby brother's head. And now you," He pointed at Sam whose face twisted into the epitome of both anguish and rage. "are going to lead us to the treasure."

"_Fuck you_," Sam's voice carried a wild emotion in it. He'd stopped struggling against the thugs and now hung in their hold, his vengeful gaze burning into his brother's murderer.

Rafe's lips turned into a thin smile. He turned to Nadine, a single raised brow posing a silent question.

Nadine's stare moved from Rafe, to Sam, to the ground, before she came up with her answer. "He'll agree soon enough. Let's head back to a site." They went to walk when she turned sharply, her tone bearing a warning, "And keep an eye on him." A nod was sent towards Sam.

"Yes ma'am."

Rafe nodded. "Alright, let's just not waste too much time."

"What's the rush?" Nadine questioned, her neutral tone inquisitive.

The man sighed. "I just want to get the treasure. It's been a long day, and those assholes didn't help any."

Sam grimaced, his jaw set. In the turmoil of his thoughts was a dark place. Guilt plagued him; he should have never lied to Nathan, never reentered his life. He couldn't protect him, his own brother. What kind of guy does that make him?

A punch landed on his jaw and Sam was jolted back to reality. The dullness in his eyes faded, he fell back against a wooden beam and saw a man wearing a Shoreline outfit standing over him. Nadine sat in the darkness, her legs swung around the backside of a chair.

"Where is the treasure?" She asked, enunciating each word.

Sam ignored her, receiving another hit. The exchange of questions, silence, punch, continued on until Sam's bloodied head drooped into unconsciousness. Nadine stood with a scoff.

"Wake me when he comes around." The man grunted in reply. And she promptly left.

Mere seconds after Nadine had taken her leave, a figure slipped under the tent, slinking around the man tied to the post avoiding the guard's sight. When the invader had made it to behind the guard, they jumped up, performing a chokehold while a hand clenched over the man's mouth. There was a brief struggle, then they cracked his neck.

The stranger paused, catching her breath, before rushing over to Sam and gently slapping his face, shaking his shoulders, urging him awake.

"Sam!" Elena whispered. "Sam wake up!"

The man stirred, his head lifting. But he was unable to do anything more than that as he drifted away once again. Elena pressed her lips into a firm line, sparing a haste glance towards the tent flaps, then rushed around and cut his bonds. With Sam free, she slung an arm around her shoulder and began the perilous task of getting the man safely out of the Shoreline filled camp.

Elena made her way back the way she came, laying Sam down in the dirt and carefully crawling out first. When she made sure it was clear she pulled him out.

Sully would be waiting on the coast, six or so miles from where Shoreline had set up. Elena had stolen a vehicle from them, it was there, along with…

She cleared her throat, glanced at Sam, the surrounding area, and pushed onwards.

"I wonder if we'll get a raise from how much overtime we've been pulling." Elena stopped dead. She was about to turn a corner, the growth had made it hard to see if there were any patrols on the other side. And apparently there were.

Her eyes darted around for somewhere to hide, finding a cluster of bushes. With the men almost upon them, she dropped Sam behind the bushes, crouching over him, a gun in hand. Narrowed eyes watched two men pass, and once they were gone she roughly grabbed Sam and hurried on.

They made it to the vehicle without any more problems. As Elena approached it, she saw the lump in the backseat and faltered. Her lips quivered and knees shook, the overbearing misery she'd been pushing down hit her all at once. A shaky breath came in, went out.

She couldn't do this right now.

Feeling the weight of Sam's body more prominent, she moved to place him in the passenger side, purposefully ignoring the back seat. When everything was ready, she strapped in, started the car and put it in drive.

The path down to the coast was unpleasant, the car rocked violently from the speed she was going at, and at one time they passed through a patrol of Shoreline and got caught between a spray of gunfire. For a while they had a tail but Elena managed to multitask between driving and shooting at the car, scoring a lucky shot and piercing one of the pursuers tires.

Despite her paranoia that they were still being followed, they made it down to the coast without seeing another Shoreliner.

"Sully we're here." Elena spoke monotonously through a walkie-talkie. "I'll need your help."

The sea plane started up from where it rested beside a rotted pier. Sully cautiously climbed down onto it and made his way over.

Sully didn't speak for a moment, his face was grave as he took in the form in the backseat. His jaw drifted open and a hand came up to rub at the whiskers growing there. "I — I can't believe it."

"Grab Sam please." She brusquely said, opening the back door and reaching for Nathan.

Sully smacked his lips, shaking his head. "Elena you don't have to do that. Come on let me,"

She shook off his arm as he attempted to pull her away. "I can do it." She snapped. "Get Sam and let's go before Shoreline shows up." Sully's brows furrowed as he watched the woman struggle momentarily, then sighed and grabbed Sam by the armpits, dragging him to his feet.

The pair loaded the brothers into the plane with perfect timing. It was when the first bullet fired that the plane was already skimming the water and taking off. By the time Shoreline had gathered more men, they were out of range.

Elena sat in the bathroom, her head placed in her hands. Her palms were soaked from tears that burned, pouring out of her eyes. Her chest shuddered and another sob racked her body.

"Nate, you idiot…"

In the cockpit, Sully set the plane to autopilot and reached under the seat for the medical box. He lumbered over to Sam, who was lying on the plane's floor with a pillow to support his head. With a careful hand, Sully cleaned the man up and used what little bandages he had, saving the ones he had for more severe wounds. Once Sam was patched up, he unfolded maps to gather their bearings and to decide where to land before they ran out of fuel.

Half an hour later, Elena had left the bathroom and secluded herself to a part of the plane. Sam was beginning to stir.

Sam awoke with a pounding headache. He lied there, and once again everything hit him. Nathan was dead. The last thing he'd known was that his brother had manipulated him. He rolled over onto his side — he froze, _rolled over. _He snapped up, ogling at his surroundings.

He was in a plane. By the way it rumbled he could guess it was flying. His nerves partially quieted when he saw Sully coming from the cockpit. They met eyes, the elder's lit up in relief and he hurried over.

"Good to see you awake." Sully said, giving him a gentle pat on the back. Sam nodded mutely. A silence fell, until Sully, unsure of how to approach the subject decided to just bluntly ask, "What happened?"

Sam scoffed quietly. "So you know?"

He drew Sam's attention to an object covered by a tarp towards the back of the plane with a small incline of his head. "Elena found him, but — he was already gone. Do you know who did it?" By the end of Sully's sentence Sam had stumbled to his feet and over to the tarp. He hovered over it, staring stoically until he raised an unsteady hand, and slowly pulled the cover off of Nathan's face.

Nathan's skin was pale, his lips drained of color. The clothes wrapping his body were tattered, stained red and brown with dirt. Two holes pierced his body; one in the shoulder, the other marking his left temple.

Sam could only bear a second before he yanked the tarp back over the head, reeling back as his stomach churned. Once he'd gathered himself, he cleared his throat and said,

"It was Rafe. He did it."

"Rafe?" Sully raised a brow. "He did–"

"Turn the plane around, we have to go get him." Elena's voice rang over the old man's. Without the pair noticing, she had been listening in to their conversation.

Sully's mouth drifted open, torn at her words. Without a doubt he wanted to put a bullet in Rafe himself but Nadine had an army. It would be suicide to go in the state they're in now. In a calm voice, he tried to reason, "Elena we can't go back. We're outnumbered, Rafe probably has a small army for a security detail."

She backed up, denying his words. "No — we can't just _leave_ that man out there! For gods sake Sully he killed Nathan!"

"And he'll kill you too!" Sully took a step forward. "Elena please, think of what Nathan would want." At that her eyes darted away, arms crossed tightly across her chest.

She was silent for a moment, contemplating her decision. A dark look crossed her face. "Fine."

Sully gave a strained smile. "Thank you." Elena locked eyes with him, stiffly shook her head refusing his gratitude, then retreated back into her corner. The smile on Sully's face was gone as he turned back to the cockpit. Sam stood in the same place he'd been, the guilt tearing into him.

Autopilot was taken off and the old man focused on flying, to try and take his mind off the present events.

ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ

Sully had flown them to the mainland to refuel. He intended to get Elena home first, and had desperately searched for some way to preserve Nathan's body, coming back with two large bags of ice.

Then they were on their way.

Despite some nasty turbulence, they made it to New Orleans when it was breaking dawn. Elena broke into a car, using it to put Nathan's body into. When she was ready to go, she bid a curt goodbye, stiffly offering Sully a hug, then headed over to the mortician.

"What are you doing?" Sully asked Sam, eyeing the man sitting in the entryway of his plane.

Both Sam's mind and face was blank. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't want you to do anything crazy, Sam. I'm worried about you."

He shifted, leaning away from Sully and towards the water where it lapped quietly against the pier. He didn't know what he wanted, an emptiness inside him consumed any thought. His downcast eyes met with Sully's, lips twitching into a smile.

"I'll be fine."

Sully regarded him with a doleful look, then nodded. "Alright, I'll be on my way. Call me if you need anything."

Minutes later, engines to the plane roared to life, disturbing the tranquility of the silent morning. Sully sailed into the sky, his aircraft lost in the glaring sun, mixing with the painted colors of the sunrise. And Sam trudged down the pier, walking somewhere with uncertainty.

—

**A/n**

I put Nathan got shot twice, I think when Rafe shot at the Drake brothers the bullet skimmed Sam but hit Nathan but it wasn't addressed that Nathan got shot. There was blood in the water but that might've been from his fall.

Thanks for reading :)


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